


The pub

by Toothzzello



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF, Queen (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1970s, Bars and Pubs, Confusion, Developing Relationship, Drunkenness, Everyone Is Alive, M/M, New Years, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-12 19:18:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18016814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toothzzello/pseuds/Toothzzello
Summary: After wrapping up from a week of filming the cast head to the local Pub, when Ben and Joe stay there longer than the others and get considerably drunk they call it a night and head back to their hotel rooms. The next morning they wake up and everything had changed, they soon realise that they've woken up in 1971.---I'm also posting this on wattpad !





	1. The pub

They had just wrapped up on set for the week, and they were all heading down to the local Pub for the night. At the Pub they did the usual ordered a few pints, reviewed their week of work and planned for the next. A half hour after that Lucy and Rami had decided to call it a night, Gwilym soon followed in suit. Joe and Ben ordered a few more pints and talked into the night. At around 2:30 am the Pub was shutting up so a quite Cleary intoxicated Joe and Ben called for a taxi to make their way back to their hotel.

"Hey ben~ "slurred Joe

"what is it mate"

"do you ever wonder what it'd be like to live in the 70's? you know with like Queen fresh on the scene"

"I suppose sometimes I do, yeah"

"yeah"

The conversation drained dead and not soon after they arrived at their hotel. After stumbling to the elevator as a pair they separated as they returned to their rooms. Joe navigated his way through the dark of his hotel room not even bothering to slide the key card in to provide light, he dropped himself on the bed with a thud and dosed off almost instantly.

Joe eventually sat up in his bed yet to open his eyes, his bed felt slightly harder than he thought it had when he fell asleep on it the night before but thought nothing of it. Joe rubbed his eyes and let them flutter open, to his shock he was not in the same room he had checked into a few mornings before, he thought to himself--- 'I swear I wasn't drunk enough to crash in a completely different hotel... right?, no it cant be, this has to be my room I checked in with my key card last night I remember!'. Trying not to think to much about it for the moment he got up and went to look for the only other person who he was sure of his whereabouts.

When Ben arose in his bed, he was shocked to find himself in unfamiliar surroundings.

"what is this..." he mumbled to himself

"Joe? Are you there?"

"If this is another one of your pranks, you've been found out!"

He got no response so naturally he started walking around what was his hotel room in search for the culprit.

"Joe I'm serious! this isn't a joke anymore!"

When he had been searching for around 10 minutes and it had turned out unsuccessful, he decided to just go and find Joe and confront him about this not very funny practical joke.


	2. I hope you're joking!?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe and Ben head back to their hotel in a wave of drunkenness and wake up in unfamiliar rooms, alone phoneless and confused.

Joe wandered frantically down the unfamiliar hallway as he veered around the next corner, he saw a familiar figure moving in the opposite direction.

“Ben! Is that you?” he called out to the figure.

The figured spun on its heels towards Joe’s voice.

“Joe! thank god I was just looking for you, do you know what in the bloody hell is going on? is this some kind of prank?”

“I came to ask you the same thing”

“so, this isn’t one of your practical jokes…?”

“I’m afraid not, where are we? do you think we went back to the wrong hotel?”

“Impossible, all my stuff is still in the room from days ago.”

“hmm Ben, have you tried calling Gwilym or Rami and Lucy?”

“I can’t find my phone anywhere, it’s like it completely vanished.”

Joe begun searching his pockets for his phone, with no luck.

“I can’t find mine either, do you think we left them in the taxi or at the pub?”

“I don’t know, but there is only one way to find out.”

The two boys made their way in the direction of the elevator still confused to how different it seems to be looking in the light of day. They hadn’t seen any people yet, but they didn’t pay much mind to it. When they reached the ground floor and the elevator doors opened the situation got even more confusing, the people were walking around the foyer in bell bottoms and in bright shirts, no cell phones in their hands. Joe turned to Ben and they both shared the same expression of shock. Ben pulled Joe off to the side into a less crowded hallway.

“Joe…What is going on!” Ben whisper shouted in Joe’s direction

“How should I know?! I’m just as if not even more confused than you!”

The boys continued in a full-fledged whisper argument by the elevator, when they heard a familiar voice from behind them.

“Excuse me can you move over a bit I need to get into the elevator dears.”

Joe froze solid in his place and looked at ben with wide eyes.

“Hello? …I’m quite late for an appointment I'd like to get into the elevator.”

Joe slowly turned around and sure enough it was exactly who he thought it was.

Without thinking he blurted it out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello thanks you for reading! I hope you're happy and healthy ❤ and I hope you enjoyed this chapter, leave ideas for the future in the comments !


	3. 1971

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Joe take in the reality of the situation and make some shocking revelations.

“Freddie…”

**“Ah an American boy, and yes, that’s me, I’d love to chat, but I am late although since I seems you’re staying here so we can chat later? “**

The boys stand there shell-shocked as Freddie makes his way into the elevator. Ben turns his attention back to Joe

“What is going on...” “That was Freddie Mer- ‘

“I know”

“Ben! This isn’t normal Freddie... he isn’t … he isn’t alive?!”

“I’m just as confused as you are Joe.”

“Well what are we going to do, this obviously isn’t the hotel we were at last night.’

“Joe… I don’t even think it’s the same century…”

Ben gestures to a banner strung above the entryway of the hotel.

‘Happy New year 1971!'

“No, this has to be some sort of joke, Ben its 2017! You know it is!”

“I know, I know it is joe!”

“Well, what are we going to do?” Joe's expression saddened

“I don’t know, maybe we can try and find Gwilym or Rami and Lucy... maybe this happened to them as well?”

“Let’s go back to the Pub” suggested Joe

“Maybe they’d go there...” continued Joe

“Well I can’t argue you with you there, I mean we don’t really have much choice”

The two boys exited the hotel and made their way towards what they thought was the direction of the Pub, which soon they figured was not such a bright idea as they realised that it had to have been a least mid-winter if that banner celebrating the new year had been correct, and they were only wearing at the most 1-2 layers of clothing. Joe stops in his tracks and turned to face Ben, his nose red and a serious look plastered across his face.

“Ben, it’s just too cold. I think we should head back to the hotel, maybe they’d have gone there, hell maybe they were there the whole time!”

Ben agreed with a reluctant nod and both the boys tracked their steps back to the hotel.


	4. Interesting outfits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Joe make it back to the hotel still on search of some answers when they run into some familiar faces.

The boys approach the door of the hotel, a wave of warmth washes over them as they enter through the door frame. Through the crowd of people checking in and out of the hotel they spot none other than the infamous John Deacon lounging on a couch chatting away with another familiar…. hairdo.

“Ben, is that John Deacon and Brian May?”

“I think it is”

Although the boys had previously met Brian it was a shock to them to see him young again especially since he was also with John who neither of them had ever met. Although ‘knowing’ Brian both boys knew that they couldn’t just go up to Brian and tell him the whole story

‘oh yeah hey Brian! Yeah were not friends now but we will be in around 40 years you get the gist?” – definitely not going to work.

“Well... if that banner is correct Queen aren’t extremely famous yet...”

“Ben you’re not suggesting…what I think you’re suggesting…right?”

“Well what is there to lose? I’d like to befriend them” Ben smirks at Joe

“I don’t think this is the smartest idea...’ Joe mumbles under his breath as he trails Ben over towards Brian and John.

Just as the boys are about out to greet John and Brian Freddie and Roger make an appearance from around the corner, stopping the boys in their tracks.

**“Freddie! How nice of you to show up”**

**“Well I wouldn’t dare to miss our first Pub visit of the year darling!”**

Freddie’s eyes widen as he makes clear eye contact with Joe.

**“You!”** Freddie says as he points through the crowd.

Joe pointed at himself in a slight state of shock

**“Yes you! come here darlings”** Freddie said with a big smile spread across his face.

Joe and Ben cautiously approached he band the rest of the way.

**“Do you know these guys, Fred?”**

**“Not formally, but I met them briefly earlier and one of them knew me, so I thought it’d be fun to have a chat!”**

Once Joe and Ben got acquainted with the band, they all took a seat on a larger suite in the foyer of the hotel. Freddie looked both the boys up and down.

**“What interesting outfits you both have on, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anything quite like them.”**

Joe and Ben looked down at themselves and realised that they must’ve looked extremely out of place, they were wearing clothes from 2017 and the fashion of the 70’s definitely differs from today's. Joe looks at Ben with a pleading look on his face.

**“Come on Fred, you can hardly talk”** Roger says as he gives Freddie a look over

**“Since”** Brian takes a look at Joe remembering his American accent **“one of you seems to be new around here why don’t you join us for a bit at the Pub?”**

Ben and Joe exchange looks of agreement.

“Sure, why not” Ben says with a nod.


	5. Interrogation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freddie brings something up at the Pub that makes Ben begin to question his friendship with Joe.

When they arrived at the Pub Brian Found them a booth in the quieter part of the pub near the back as he said he “ wanted to get to know them better”. 

They all took their seats Ben in between Joe and John, Brian, Freddie and Roger opposite.

 

**“So what brings you to London”** Brian asked quizzically as he gestures to Joe.

 

Joe looked at Ben with a slightly pleading look in his eyes, as he really didn't know why he was here in this London after all. 

 

“ Oh you know, he's over here for the university and we became friends” Ben chimed in

 

“ **Friends”** Freddie snickered raising his hands in quotations

 

“ Huh? what you do mean by that ?”

 

**“ Oh sorry darling, you both just looked… very close”** Freddie smirked 

 

Brian sent Freddie a look and cleared his throat.

 

**“ Anyway.. your outfits, I never seen anything like them in the shops, where'd you get them from?”**

 

“ America!” Joe hurriedly spoke

 

**“America… alright”**

 

“ Yeah, Joe bought them from America, I thought they looked a bit different so I- ah got him to lend me some.. yeah”

 

**“interesting what they have over there…”**

 

“yeah haha”

  
  


Joe mentally slapped himself for that one, could he have been anymore suspicious if he tried.

 

**“ So what are you both studying at the university? I'm studying electrical engineering”** John asked the boys.

 

“I'm studying film making” 

 

**“ What about you..”** Freddie chimed in

 

“Ben“

 

**“Silly me I never bothered even ask your names !”** Freddie chuckled

 

“I'm Joe” 

 

“Ben” 

 

**“ I assume you know our names?”**

 

“Freddie, Brian, John and Roger?” 

 

**“Sounds about right”** chuckled Roger 

 

Roger ordered a quite few more rounds of shots to their table and the boys got know each other deep into the night.

 

**“Blimey!”** Roger exclaimed taking a peak at the clock across the now quiet pub.

 

**“ it's bloody 2 in the morning ! and we've got a gig tomorrow!”**

 

**“ Sorry for keep you two out so late we should all really head back to the hotel”** Freddie stood up and made his way out of the booth.

 

When they all had arrived back at their hotel they said their goodbyes and see you soons and went their separate ways. Joe and Ben entered the elevator stumbling around a little, Maybe that 10th shot wasn't such a bright idea.

 

“ Ben, what do you think Freddie meant?”

 

“ About what?”

 

“ When he said were close?, what do you think he meant?” Joe looked him in the eyes 

 

“ I don't know Joe..”  Ben moved his head to look at the ground for the rest of the ride

 

Ben had never really taken much notice on the closeness of him and Joe, he just thought of it as a normal occurrence, I mean sure they were close… maybe a little too close for comfort for some people but he didn't mind… he liked the company of Joe.

 

“ Ben?… Ben !”

 

“ huh?”

 

“ Are you going to get out of the elevator or just stand there for the rest of our lives?” 

 

Ben shook the thought from his head and removed himself from the elevator.

 

“Joe do you remember what room I was in ?” 

 

“No? that's your Job?”

 

“ Well I don't remember”

 

“let's just walk down the hall and see of any of the numbers spike your memory”

 

Joe and Ben began to walk right down the hallway, about half way down Ben trips and Completely flops front first onto the ground with a thud.

 

“Ben! why are you jumping into the ground” Joe giggled drunkenly 

 

“I'm not, I fell “ Ben said bluntly as he dusted off his knees

 

“ look Joe it's 3 am I can't be bothered looking for my room, let's just go to yours” 

 

“ wow you are bold tonight… didn't even take me to dinner first..” 

 

“ Ha-Ha, very funny mate, now lead the way”

 

Joe smirked to himself as he lead Ben down the opposite end of the hall.

 

“ Well here it is”

 

“Mate I don't need a room tour, just open the bloody door” 

 

Joe huffed and then opened the door to reveal yet again the dark and unfamiliar room in which they had awoken in earlier in the day, now they really took a look it was quite decent room, a queen bed placed in the middle of the room a side table either side, a bathroom on a side room off the doorway, a small balcony outlook with an old looking chair in the corner. Not bad at all.

 

Ben made his way to the bed and flopped down Joe following in suite.

 

“What a night”, “ ... Joe?” 

Ben shifted his head and layed eyes on a completely knocked out cold Joe. He smiled to himself struggling to hold in a laugh and how funny Joe's little snores sounded.

“ Close..yeah..”

 


	6. Chapter 6: You look conflicted?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Joe begin to notice the small things, they also are and invited to experience something that will change their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't posted in forever!! I've been busy and i hadnt had any Inspiration but I assure you my updated will be more frequent from here on! so I hope you enjoy the longest chapter yet and I'll get to writing the next soon! again you can leave suggestions down bellow of things you could see happening in this story and hey they might happen? anyway thank you for reading enjoy!=]]

The sun shone subtlety through the curtains of the hotel room, Joe stirred in his slumber and slowly opened his eyes as he rolled onto his side.

Joe gazed upon the sleeping figure next to him.

“ How peaceful you look” he whispered

Joe wondered as he laid on his back and thought back to what Freddie had said the night before. _Close? what did he mean by that? I mean yes Ben and Him are close of course they would be they are best friends and working together practically everyday and then spending free time together…… they are bound to be close_.

“You look conflicted?”

Joe startles

“you're awake Ben…”

Joe's mind wanders as he examines the man before him, Thoughts along the lines of _‘ Ben has an extremely deep voice in the morning ...how have I not noticed this before…’_ Joe's expression wrinkles ‘ _why am I noticing this’_ Joe can't help but realise that Ben's morning voice is rather an attractive sound, one he could get used to.

“ Stop!”

Ben looks at Joe with a puzzled look

. “ Stop..?”

Joe looked as all the blood in his body had now made found it's new home in his face.

“ Joe are you alright mate? you're like a tomato!” Ben said with a laugh

“ I- um didn't mean to say that out loud..”

Joe's face hung down hoping he'd be swallowed up by the bed and spat out in 2017 again.

Joe's internal battle was thankfully disrupted by a knock at the bedroom door.

**“ Joe? Ben? are you in there?”**

“ Brian ?.. is that you ?”

**“ yeah it is ! can you open the door ??”**

“ Is it just you?”

**“ Fred's here as well.. why does that matter could you open the door?”**

Joe turned his attention to Ben and with a silent  nod of agreement Joe rose to make his way to the room door trying avoid tripping hazards as he headed down the darkened hallway, opening the door at the end to be greeted by a gleeful looking Brian.

“ Morning Brian, Fred “ Joe greeted them with nod and a smile.

Brian was about to open the mouth to say something when a loud thud followed by an array or swears echoed out from the room to the right of the hall.

Freddie gave a look to Brian and wiggled his brows to which Brian gave a slight smirk and nudged Freddie to cut it out.

**“ who've you got in there Joe darling?”**

Joe's eyes widened as he realized what Freddie was getting at.

“ I- Ah what? .. it's just Ben”

 **“ Oh just Ben”** Freddie said with a wink directed at Joe

“ **Alright Fred, let's get to what we are here for”** Freddie agreed with a nod and then began speaking

**“ Well since we seem to get along quite well, we were wondering if you'd like to come along to our first show tonight at Surrey college, it's just out of London we could give you a lift”**

“ I- Ah we'd love to!” Joe said almost a little to enthusiastically

 **“ I mean it is our first show so.. don't expect too much”** Brian pipped in “

 **Alright it's settled we will pick you later, we should be going now”** Freddie smiled and Him and Brian began to walk away.

Joe shut the door and stood in shock.

“ We are going to Queens first show Ben, their first show !!”

Joe ran down the small dark hall and pounced onto Ben and engulfed the tired man in a smothering hug.

“ Alright mate can't breathe, can't breathe!!”

Joe untangled himself from Ben and stared at the man like an excited toddler.

“ Alright Joe I'm just excited as you.. but I'm in need of breakfast, get changed and let's see what we can find alright?” Ben said as he ran a hand through his hair with a yawn.

 _Still got that attractive deep voice to him thought Joe_.

“ Alright! Ben I am going to get changed now!” Joe exclaimed rather oddly.

“ Alright mate I'll head to my room and I'll meet you at the elevator, okay?”

“ Alright I'll be there !”

Ben got up and took his leave. ‘

 _I'll be there?’ Joe what are you thinking of course you'll be there you're stuck in the 70s with Ben the only way you be **there** is with Ben?!_.

Joe shook his thoughts and quickly got changed not wanting to make Ben wait to long by himself in the unfamiliar setting. When Joe had changed he made his way to the elevator where he spotted Ben.

“ Hey Ben!” Joe said with a wave

“ Haha, fancy seeing you Joe” Ben spoke with a chuckle as he extended his hand to Joe

“ Shall we?”

Joe looked puzzled but soon accepted his hand as the elevator opened and Ben lead him inside.

The boys arrive a small breakfast joint just down the street ( this time they brought coats) they take a seat at a table and begin to browse the menus. Ben glances over his menu peaking at Joe's cutely concentrated face ‘ _cute, Ben get a hold of yourself mate…”_ Joe sees the contemplation on Ben's face and takes it as a perfect moment to strike his revenge.

“ You look conflicted?” Joe tries his best to say with a serious face

“ I- just don't know what to have...that's all”

Ben’s head whips behind his menu again. Joe holds back a laugh looking at the way Ben is suddenly intensely studying the menu like it's his notes before an exam.

They eventually both agree on ordering some pancakes and they devour them as quick as they came realising that they had Completely forgotten to have a proper meal yet. They both relaxed back in their seats feeling satisfied with their meal when all or a sudden realization hit Ben In the face.

“ Joe…. it's 1971”

“ we've already established that Ben, what the problem?”

“ we don't have any money Joe”

It takes Joe a minute to process this new information when he too goes just as pale as Ben.

“ What do we do ?! we can't just dine and dash… but we can't pay either and we can't exactly regurgitate ou-”

“ woah Joe mate, calm down first, okay ? we will figure this out”

Just as the boys were about to lose all hope They hear a familiar voice at the entry to the breakfast place.

“ John ! “ Ben waves him over

John looks startled but soon makes his way towards the boys.

 **“ Hello Ben, Joe”** He says as he reached out to shake both of their hands, which they both accept.

“ John, I know we have only just met recently but but we are In a bit of a pickle at the moment… we seemed to have left our money somewhere and we've already eaten our food… if you can see where this is going?”

 **“ If you'd be kind enough to  let me sit down and eat with you, I'll see what I can do”** John said with a smile as he sat himself down next to Joe.

“ Oh John you are truly an angel” Joe exclaimed with bright eyes.

The boys talked and laughed over their breakfasts Joe and Ben learning more abouts John's electrical engineering and learning of how he's thinking of constructing his own bass amp somewhere in the near future.

When they had finished John payed for the meals and walked with them back to the hotel. The rest of the day was spent in Joe's hotel room chatting and preparing for the gig later in the evening .

Finally the time had come and they got a knock on the door fully knowing who it was they were expecting.

“ Brian ! Freddie! Roger! John!  Hello !” Joe exclaimed when he opened the door

 **“ you look absolutely Divine Joe my dear”** Freddie says as he makes eye contact with Ben a slight smirk appearing as he finished his sentence.

**“ Now we must hurry, don't want to be late to our own gig do we?”**

Freddie led the band and they boys to elevator and through the exit of the hotel into the transport more specifically Roger’s Morris mini minor, which they nearly all had to cram into ( Brian was taking the gear in a van ) but they didn't mind as they thought of the exciting night ahead.

When they arrived at the college they began setting up, John was tuning his bass and messing around with his amps, Roger was constantly adjusting his kit, Brian fiddling around on his ( to Ben and Joe) infamous Red Special while Freddie warmed his vocal chords all while Ben and Joe sat on some seats near the backstage in awe.

Closer to the performance when people started arriving the band has offered them to watch from behind the stage but the boys insisted  they see the show from the crowd's perspective, with their wishes respected they head down to the front row before it got full. It was now 2 minutes till show time and Ben and Joe's adrenaline rush was through the roof, not only were they In 1971 and now acquaintances with the whole of Queen they were witnessing their first ever show as a whole as Queen. Suddenly the room went black and footsteps were heard crossing the stage and stopping once the mysterious footsteps seemed to have seated themselves. Three more sets of footprints graced the dark stage. Ben looked at Joe and Smiled, the loud sound of Johns bass rung out across the room, Joe and Ben faced the front as the stage lights lit up to reveal Queen.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello thanks for reading !! I hope you enjoyed it so far, I haven't wrote in a while so let me know if you have any ideas on where this story could go = ], I'll try and post regularly ( Maybe every one or two days dont quote me though haha) . Hope you're all healthy and happy! see you next time .  
> -  
> -  
> Also , all of this is fictional and not to be taken seriously please don't not share with anyone actually in this story I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable this is all in good fun !.


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